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Vitti gets an earful on teacher vacancies on first day

Tuesday was Nikolai Vitti's first day as superintendent of the Detroit Public Schools Community District. It was a busy day full of interviews, meetings, school visits and a teacher recruitment fair.

New Detroit Superintendent Nikolai Vitti greets people during the DPSCD Teacher Recruitment Fair on Tuesday, May 23, 2017 at Martin Luther King High School in Detroit. Vitti attended the Fair as part of his first day as Superintendent. (Photo: Rachel Woolf, Special to the Free Press)

Nikolai Vitti’s first day as the superintendent of the Detroit Public Schools Community District was an intense day of interviews, meetings, school visits and a teacher recruitment fair.

And through it all, he got an earful about some of the key issues in the district.

“One theme that is resonating through multiple conversations is the need to enhance the teacher profile in our school district,” Vitti said this afternoon, while meeting with the news media during the recruiting fair at Martin Luther King High School.

“Time and time again, you’re hearing issues of too many vacancies, conversations about loss of prep time, too large of class sizes. And we have to address that issue immediately.”

The Free Press on Sunday reported on how teacher vacancies are impacting the district. On any given day in the district, about 100 classes are operating without a permanent classroom teacher — a situation made more dire by the district's academic struggles.

Vitti met today with the head of the district’s human resources department. He said the district needs to have conversations about “what we can do differently in recruiting and retaining teachers.”

After talking to reporters, Vitti went to the recruitment fair — where representatives of nearly every school in the district were on hand to interview applicants for teaching positions.

By 6:30 p.m. — two and a half hours into the fair — more than 200 people had come through the fair. Some received conditional job offers on the spot. The cafeteria where the fair was held was packed. So was a holding room of more applicants.

From left, Deborah Washington, DPSCD supervisor for the autism and early childhood special education program, greets new Detroit Superintendent Nikolai Vitti during the DPSCD Teacher Recruitment Fair on Tuesday, May 23, 2017 at Martin Luther King High School in Detroit. Vitti attended the Fair as part of his first day as Superintendent. (Photo: Rachel Woolf, Special to the Free Press)

Vitti, accompanied by Alycia Meriweather — who, until today had served as the district’s interim superintendent for more than a year — visited every table at the fair, shaking hands with everyone and greeting them. Meriweather is now a senior adviser for the district.

“Welcome to Detroit,” one man said as Vitti shook his hand.

Kenyuano Jones, principal at Detroit College Preparatory at Northeastern, a high school in the district, was among those who had a brief conversation with Vitti.

“He said he’s glad to be here,” Jones said.

Jones said he’s optimistic about Vitti’s tenure in the district. He said there is already a different energy in the district, particularly after lawmakers approved a $617-million legislative package in June that gave the district a fresh start, with no debt.

Vitti said his day began with radio interviews. It also included a meeting with the leadership of the Detroit Federation of Teachers, a meeting with his cabinet, a meeting with teachers, and visits to King High and Golightly Career and Technical Center.

“It’s been a long day. But it’s been a great day, an exciting day,” Vitti said.

He attended a 5:30 p.m. meeting of the academic subcommittee of the district’s board of education, at King High.

“This work on this committee is key and central to the transformation of our schools,” Vitti said in brief remarks to the audience. “We have to get it right.”

Former Interim Superintendent Alycia Meriweather and new Detroit Superintendent Nikolai Vitti greet people during the DPSCD Teacher Recruitment Fair on Tuesday, May 23, 2017 at Martin Luther King High School in Detroit. Vitti attended the Fair as part of his first day as Superintendent. (Photo: Rachel Woolf, Special to the Free Press)

Earlier, he said “there’s an opportunity to revisit our curriculum and align it to the standards because a lot of teachers are feeling like their materials are outdated,” Vitti said.

One thing he said he supports is a curriculum audit to determine what’s working with the district’s curriculum and what’s not.

He said addressing the teacher vacancies, looking at ways to increase enrollment, studying the district’s curriculum and dealing with ongoing union negotiations are all issues that will be addressed in the short term.

“A lot of changes will be on the horizon. But I’m going to make those decisions after listening to internal and external stakeholders,” he said.

He told the crowd gathered at the academic subcommittee meeting that he would only have a short time to spend in the meeting. He said he needed to visit the recruitment fair again.